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by David P. Greisman - There are those who offer talk and vitriol. And then there are those who deliver statements and messages. Bernard Hopkins has long excelled at both.
This was the man who had donned an executioner’s mask and feigned slitting his throat just before entering the ring. This was the man who had grabbed a Puerto Rican flag in front of a large crowd of Felix Trinidad’s compatriots and thrown it to the ground. This was the man who had played mental games with many an opponent, who never hesitated to go nose-to-nose or verbal blow for verbal blow.
This was the man who would do all that and then win.
Yet in the weeks before his fight with Kelly Pavlik, there was none of the typical bluster.
Perhaps it was the three defeats in six fights, close, controversial decision losses all, two against Jermain Taylor and one against Joe Calzaghe. Each he thought he won, but in each he chose frugality over physicality, moving his hands far less than he had done his mouth. [details]
This was the man who had donned an executioner’s mask and feigned slitting his throat just before entering the ring. This was the man who had grabbed a Puerto Rican flag in front of a large crowd of Felix Trinidad’s compatriots and thrown it to the ground. This was the man who had played mental games with many an opponent, who never hesitated to go nose-to-nose or verbal blow for verbal blow.
This was the man who would do all that and then win.
Yet in the weeks before his fight with Kelly Pavlik, there was none of the typical bluster.
Perhaps it was the three defeats in six fights, close, controversial decision losses all, two against Jermain Taylor and one against Joe Calzaghe. Each he thought he won, but in each he chose frugality over physicality, moving his hands far less than he had done his mouth. [details]
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